Puppet Master?
by JosiahGirl
Summary: What if Emma had a savior of her own show up that night at the train station? An A/U add on to Tallahassee.
1. Chapter 1

General Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time or any of the public domain entities that are represented by the show.

Quick Authors Note: So I like August, I thought he was an interesting sympathetic character last season and I wish the writers had kept him sympathetic this season rather than using him as a plot device. This is an A/U story, it is up to you the reader to decide if August is just lying to Emma or if he is "improving the truth". As for the age thing. While I had a very hard time thinking that Jennifer Morrison looked anywhere near 17 in "Tallahassee" I also think that she would have only been 17 at the oldest given the time line. Which makes the fact that Neal is Henry's dad a little creepy if he was supposed to be any age over 21. So this is my take of what was in the box and how I would redeem August.

Emma shut her phone in disgust after hearing the automated operator informing her that "The customer you are trying to contact is out of service" for the third time since 9 pm. "Come on where are you."

"Maybe he set you up," A voice from behind her caused Emma to turn around, her eyes widening as she took note that she really did have the unfortunate ability to attract cops.

Emma decided to try to bluff her way out if it, she swallowed around the rising bile and asked, "Is there a problem officer?"  
"Yes you're in possession of stolen goods. Set your bag down and come over here, slowly." The officer gestured her over.

Emma did as she was ordered, "What stolen goods?" the officer took a hold of her wrists bringing them behind her and Emma flinched from the cold metal as the handcuffs snapped shut.

"A wa." The cop stopped speaking, as he noticed that Emma wasn't wearing a watch, "Where's the watch."

"What watch?" Emma affected a surprised look, her heart racing.

The crunch of gravel alerted both the cop and Emma of a third person, "Emma what's going on?" A man's voice cut from the dark as a man in motorcycle leathers stepped out.

"Hey buddy stay back this doesn't concern you." The cop said motioning the bystander to stop.

Emma started as she recognized the man. "Auggie." Emma couldn't contain the surprise in her voice.

"Princess what the heck is going on?" 'Auggie' asked "Officer is there a problem."

"This girl's boyfriend called us letting us know she was here in possession of stolen goods." The officer explained as he started to frog march Emma toward the patrol car.

"That's impossible since I'm her boyfriend and we just got into town on the last train." Auggie responded, "She was hoping to get some fresh air and we got separated while I was looking into getting a cab."

"You could be lying, and I've got to take her in for questioning." The officer stopped walking though.

"Hey if I'm lying then she should have whatever stolen goods on her right?" Auggie asked.

"Well yeah," The officer stopped, "Well just because I don't see them on her doesn't mean they aren't there; but I can't search her until I get her to the station. So you both can come down now or you can come down after we get done."

"If you don't see them, and they aren't on her then we are telling the truth and you don't waste your time and effort with bringing in an innocent person" Auggie reasoned.

The cop shook his head as if to clear it. "Fine let me see her bag."

"Sure." Auggie brought the bag over and gave it to him. Emma felt her heart drop, and Auggie's quick wink did nothing to reassure her. Emma knew she was going to be found out. She had put the watch in the bag after she noticed that the watch wouldn't stay put on her wrist.

The officer quickly searched the bag and after coming up empty reluctantly went behind Emma and released the cuffs. "I guess it was a prank call, we've been getting a lot of them. People think it is funny to call in phony tips, hoping to get the reward money. The chief makes us chase down every one of them. Sorry about the mix up." The officer looked apologetic as he got into the car.

Auggie smile as he went over to Emma and put an arm around her, "No problem officer we understand. Have a good night."

"August Booth what the hell." Emma tried to pull away but August had a good grip on her waist.

"Sorry Princess I'll explain as soon as he's gone." He maneuvered them away from the parking structure and toward the street parking where his motorcycle was parked under a streetlamp.

"Don't call me princess."Emma complained, "Where did you come from?"

"I've been looking for you, and you called me Auggie first." August tried dodging but Emma wouldn't allow it.

"No how did you find me. I didn't want to be found." Emma stopped walking and crossed her arms.

"Too bad, you are 16 and I'm still your legal guardian. At least in Kansas. And if you didn't want to be found then you shouldn't have started knocking over gas stations and convenience stores with a wanted felon. Your picture was all over. Congrats you're famous." He handed her a helmet.

"How did you find me if the cops couldn't." Emma asked as she held onto the helmet.

"I've been following you, only a couple steps behind, but after you got made in Oregon, I put two and two together and came here. Let's go." August threw a leg over the motorcycle and kicked the stand.

"I'm not going anywhere with you. Do you know where Neal is?" Emma stood her ground.

"The guy gives you up to the cops and you still want to know where he is?" August asked in disbelief.

"He's my friend," Emma insisted.

"A friend that set you up, great friend there." August responded, "You know he's a real jumpy guy too."

"How would you know, how did you know where to find me." Emma repeated her question.

"I talked to your "friend" and he told me. This was after I followed him while he was talking on his phone telling the other person where to find you. And what you were wearing. Sounds like he was setting you up." August explained.

"No he wouldn't do that. You must have heard wrong." Emma was still protesting but felt her faith wavering.

"Well he seemed pretty happy to hear that someone was warning him off." August said with a shrug.

"You warned him off? August what gives you that right?" Emma whined.

"What part of you being underage and I'm still legally responsible for you do you not understand. All I did was show him your birth certificate." August explained.

"That is stalkerish and just a bit sad." Emma was now pouting

"Hey all the books say that you should allow teenagers to make their own mistakes." August joked.

"The books don't say to stalk your kids." Emma threw back.

"You say stalk, I say keep an eye on. Whichever now come on that cop is going to have second thoughts about letting us go any minute and I'd rather not be here waiting for him." August patted seat again.

"I'm coming under protest." Emma climbed on the bike.

"Under advisement, but keep in mind I have a full tank of gas, and saddle bags full of cocoa and cinnamon. Where you want to go?" August offered as he started the engine.

"I wanted to see the ocean." Emma looked hopeful.

"I was thinking just for the night, how about San Francisco or LA." August said with a shake of his head.

"Not exotic enough. How about Cancun?" She tried puppy dog eyes that had always gotten her extra cinnamon when she had asked for it as a child.

"You have a passport in that purse?" August gave her a "are you kidding me" look.

"Well no." Emma's pouting lip came out again.

"Then how about Galveston, we get passports then Cancun?"August proposed.

"Fine but I want to be older, you can't do anything fun at 16." Emma smiled as August sighed but nodded.

"Only if you think that this will pay for it all." August pulled a familiar watch out of his jacket pocket.

"It might be a little short." Emma said, "How did you get it."

"A little magic" August raised his eye brows, "I bet the rest of what's in the box will cover the rest."

Emma looked confused, "You aren't the only thief Princess."

"Auggie! What about Neal?" Emma asked not quite ready to let the other man go.

"Well I figured if he was going to turn you in for his crime he could pay for something he had done, I reported that yellow bug was stolen and gave them his description." August smirked.

"Well it was stolen." Emma laughed.

"Even better," Augusts smile was even wider, "Hang on Princess, it'll be heck of a ride."


	2. Chapter 2

Quick note: So a bit of back story into my A/U and now I've completely made Neal Cassidy into a douche. Obviously this takes place before the first chapter. If I continue it will be after that point.

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon the Time and am just playing in the sandbox.

August Booth was pissed off; it had been a long 2 years since Emma had been removed from his care for her safety. August was sick and tired of having to defend himself to every two bit police officer and social worker. In Kansas the CPS had gotten nosy when a complaint from a neighbor when that neighbor had decided that a 22 year old man with a 15 year old kid was a concern and that the fact that August didn't have a girlfriend or a boyfriend was wrong. Why no one took him at face value when he said that Emma was his sister was always beyond him. From the first day in this non-magical place he had made the claim that she was his sister. That had gotten them into the same group home initially but after running away and her adoption that later fell through, he had been told time and again that it didn't matter that they had been together in the beginning. He had to fight through one do-gooder court proceeding after another after turning 18 to even get to contact her.

It had taken until he had almost finished college before the court saw felt he would be a fit guardian. By that time Emma was already cynical about the whole thing. It was hard for a 14 year old girl to understand why this college junior had fought so hard to get her. He later found out, after she had run away, that very few of the hundreds of letters he had written her while they were growing up had actually made it to Emma.

And the fight that had caused her to run nearly had gotten him thrown in jail. All he had been trying to do was get the nearly 15 year old girl out of the frat party that she had invited herself into. But she had gotten pissed off and had drunkenly yelled the one truth that he had tried so hard to keep hidden. "You aren't really related to me. So go to hell." The words still stung, worse than the handcuffs that had been slapped on his wrists for providing alcohol to a minor, even though he had actually been trying to get the beer away from Emma and take her home. Even worse than the accusations that had been whispered about his "true" interest in Emma.

By the time all of the legal wrangling had been cleared up, including clearing his name of accusations of pedophilia, Emma was long gone. That had been 2 years ago, which he spent most of that time trying to find her yet again. It would figure he would finally get a break by watching America's Most Wanted. It had been a piece on a jewel thief that was going by the name Neil Cassidy. Emma had been spotted with him knocking over convenience stores in Oregon. August had debated going to Oregon and trying to find her. But then it occurred to him that maybe, just maybe Cassidy might have felt the heat, he may try to do something completely unexpected and that would be to return to the scene of his last crime, in Phoenix.

It was probably dumb luck that he had run across Emma leaving the train station earlier that evening. But he was happy he had. She hadn't changed much in 2 years; she still wore the horn rim glasses he had gotten her about 4 weeks before it all went to hell. And her long blonde hair that was reminiscent of the fairy tale princess she really was. August decided to follow her at a distance, maybe give it a couple of days before approaching her, no need to scare her into hiding again.

But that plan went out the window pretty quickly, all because of an overheard phone conversation.

August had watched as Emma had climbed into a beat-up yellow bug, and leaned over to give the driver a huge kiss and hug. He knew without even seeing more than a profile of the guy that this was Cassidy. It made his stomach clench to think that the girl he was supposed to protect was with this thug. His curiosity got the better of him; so he got off his bike and walked toward the car. He nearly missed her getting out of the car, and was debating following her again when the conversation that Cassidy was having on his cell phone caught his attention.

"Yes I'll hold. Hello, I'd like to report a crime; at least I think it's a crime. I was sitting behind this girl at a dinner and she was having a phone conversation with someone else about getting rid of some stolen watches? Yeah she said she had gotten them from a guy who said he had stolen them from a store here in town. She was looking to fence them. Yeah I saw her, she looked to be about 20, blonde, black glasses, and a big briefcase looking canvas bag. She said she would meet the person on the other end of the phone by the train station at 9:00. Yeah no problem." Cassidy hung up the phone and then started the car.

August looked at his watch, 7:30 pm; he had about an hour to scare off this jerk and then go rescue the girl. August followed the yellow bug through some rougher neighborhoods before they both stopped along what looked to be some warehouses. Cassidy got out of the car with a bag. August got of his bike and watched as Cassidy went into a pawn shop, was there for less than 15 minutes and left quickly. But instead of going back to his car Cassidy seemed to feel that he needed to go on a walk. August smirked thoughts of vengeance at war with the little voice of conscious that sounded an awful lot like the Cricket.

He wasn't sure if he was willing to listen to that voice. The only reason that the Cricket would preach about not taking revenge was because he wanted to keep himself safe. Because if his Father had wanted to have his revenge it wouldn't take much to squish the bug. But if they believed that revenge wasn't the answer then Jiminy would be safe. Today he decided not to listen to the bug.

He knew that he had about 3 inches at least 50 lbs on the jumpy Cassidy. As they walked into an alley August saw his chance. Cassidy hadn't returned to his car and when he noticed that he was being followed he reacted just as August thought he would. They were suddenly rolling around the alley and trading punches. August was able to get his hands under Cassidy's jacket and felt an envelope in Cassidy's waist band. He put pulled it out then allowed Cassidy to roll them. "Hey man, I'm not looking for trouble; I just wanted to talk to you about Emma."

Cassidy stopped fighting and looked at August surprise in his eyes, "You know Emma?"

August slipped the envelope into his waistband, "Yeah I'm like her guardian angel."

"You've done a hell of a job." Cassidy snarled.

"You have no idea the trouble I've gone through keeping an eye on her. And you aren't helping" August shot back, "You do know she's only 16."

"Hell no," Cassidy took a step back, and he looked like he was going to bolt.

"Yes follow me and I'll prove it to you." August offered.

Cassidy looked as if he sure, he glanced around as if he thought a cop would pop out to arrest him. His voice had a note of fearful bravo, "You have her birth certificate or something."

August was honest, "Yes and the papers from the CPS court in Kansas that state I'm her guardian." He decided to see how much he could scare the crook. "You know I could go to the cops and set you up for statutory rape."

"I never touched her." Cassidy quickly replied, taking another step back.

"Don't lie to a liar Cassidy." August looked him up and down. "It doesn't matter, just back off got it? She's more important that you or I and she needs to be ready for her destiny. Leave alright; I'll be taking care of her now."

"I swear I thought she was eighteen." Cassidy tried to protest.

August looked at him incredulously, "Yes that it is why you called the cops on her? Because if she's 18 she can't go to juvie if they arrest her. You know she is 16; you called the cops because you can't deal with keeping up this pretense of a relationship with a teenager. You should have just run."

Cassidy looked like he was going to puke now. "How did you know?"

"You should have been more careful of making phone calls when your windows are open." August got some pleasure watching Cassidy's face go an even whiter shade of pale.

"Fine I'm sorry." Cassidy said grudgingly.

"Not as sorry as you'll be if I don't get to rescue the princess. Then I'll be coming for you." August threatened.

Cassidy nodded as he continued to walk backward out of the alley. He made it to the street and then turned left and was gone without even turning around. August looked at his watch and saw it was 8:15 he needed to get across town. Hopefully he would get there soon.

He got to his motor cycle and started across town the thoughts of further revenge still going through his mind, the stupid cricket's admission of "Pinocchio revenge is not the answer," still rang out. Even as he parked the bike under a street lap, "Screw the Cricket." He dialed the number he had memorized at the end of the crime stopper special.

"Yes, I'd like to report a sighting of someone from the episode you aired last week. Yes Neal Cassidy, the jewel thief. I'm in Phoenix AZ, Yes I'm sure, he introduced himself to me and we've run into each other a couple of times. No there was no girl. A car? Yes he has a yellow VW bug with Oregon Plates, E83KAE. Nope I just want to make sure a criminal is off the streets. Have a good night."  
August smiled they might not check out the lead but it was given, as he walked toward the garage he saw that he was just in time, Emma was being questioned by a cop.  
"Emma is everything okay."


End file.
